2018 Official Forum Member Review - Mizuno ST180 Driver

[Thin2win]

What kind of results are you getting when you catch it low on the face?

 

 

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I'll hit the range tomorrow to try some low hits. My mis strike is usually high toe, so I'll tee some low and see how it goes.

 

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[MattF]

Great stage 1's from you all.

[revkev]

Bump for my stage 1 being up!

 

Please ask any and all questions possible. I want to know what the people want to learn about this thing!

Do you believe in heavy petting on the first date?

 

Sorry you threw it over the plate and I had to swing.

 

Great stage one

 

 

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[Undershooter]

Do you believe in heavy petting on the first date?

 

Sorry you threw it over the plate and I had to swing.

 

Great stage one

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using MyGolfSpy

 

  I said I wanted to know what people want to learn! I didn't say I was telling just yet. That comes in stage 2! haha 

 

Call me a tease I suppose 

 

Also, thanks btw Rev!

[Shankster]

Sound. How's the sound? Tingy, POPPY, Thud, Thwack?

[Berg Ryman]

Sound. How's the sound? Tingy, POPPY, Thud, Thwack?

 

My early experience is a bit on the tingy side, but solid. You know when you catch it good and it gives a solid sound. I'll remember to get that in video when I get out with it again.

 

As an aside and tease for stage 2, I do plan on taking this with me to an old PGA Tour, current Champions Tour stop in September for the final test, En-Joie Golf Club in Endicott. I'll also have my girlfriend with me and she's an aspiring photographer for a passion project, so hopefully good action shots and static shots.

 

Next, fitting experience post will be coming soon, maybe this weekend once I'm able to get the data photographed and explained.

 

Lastly, Rev since Under skirted the issue, my opinion is personally no, just smacks of desperation to me. Not saying no to physical contact, but I'm not much for PDA.

[Undershooter]

Sound. How's the sound? Tingy, POPPY, Thud, Thwack?

It's a touch tingy and kind of loud. Not annoying by any means, but SLIGHTLY aluminum bat like. Its not my personal ideal sound but I don't have a problem with it either. I'll say that it does sound like you smoke one when you hit it, which is sort of a confidence builder. 

[bardle]

Nice intros, I'm loving the look of this thing. That blue is awesome. Reminds me of the old Nike Vapor Fly Pro.

[Undershooter]

Judging by Berg's response, I guess that I misjudged Rev's joke haha
I guess I don't get it. 

[Thin2win]

Sound. How's the sound? Tingy, POPPY, Thud, Thwack?

I am with the other two on this one, it isn't an ideal sound to me. Slightly tingy, slightly subdued. I guess for me it sounds a lot like the Ping G or G30 series for tone, but a little quieter. 

 

That said, it has a noticeable sound/feel difference if you hit it low heel, center face or high toe. When you hit the center, you know it and it feels good.  

[kingcscott]

I like this club. Have tried it over a few rounds with a friend who is a fitter. It's great. I only haven't pulled the trigger because I want to see the new Titleist

 

 

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[newballcoach]

It's a touch tingy and kind of loud. Not annoying by any means, but SLIGHTLY aluminum bat like. Its not my personal ideal sound but I don't have a problem with it either. I'll say that it does sound like you smoke one when you hit it, which is sort of a confidence builder. 

 

I definitely agree. It's louder than my M1, and can be a bit high pitched. It didn't take long for me to get used to, but if you're the type of person who cares what other people think, you might have to reconsider.

 

That being said, I played with a guy who hit a Warrior driver the other day and it had the worst sound I ever heard when he hit it. So don't be that guy

[russtopherb]

If it doesn't sound like an old Nike or the Knuth High Heat, then you're doing OK 

[Undershooter]

If it doesn't sound like an old Nike or the Knuth High Heat, then you're doing OK 

It's nowhere close to the Nike that you are referring to or the old Cleveland HiBore. Both of the those would make you go deaf. 

 

The ST180 nothing CLOSE to that bad! lol 

[PMookie]

High praise from TXG saying if you want a driver to give the lowest spin, go this route! It would be fun to do a fitting for this!

 

 

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[revkev]

It's a touch tingy and kind of loud. Not annoying by any means, but SLIGHTLY aluminum bat like. Its not my personal ideal sound but I don't have a problem with it either. I'll say that it does sound like you smoke one when you hit it, which is sort of a confidence builder.

It was a Woody Allen reference from “Take the Money and Run.” He's thrown in a Louisiana prison. The warden gives a tough guy speech and after he has his guards fire their guns, asks, “Does anyone have any questions?” To which Allen replies....

 

 

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[Shankster]

Alright, so we have pretty much all of the big auto racing colors covered, except England and US.

 

USA : Could be a tie with France

 

Germany : M3/M4 Silver

 

France: Mizuno Blue

 

Italy: Wilson Red

 

England: .... need a British Racing Green driver.

 

Not much to do with golf. But drivers are about speed and distance, so it made me think about racing.

[Undershooter]

It was a Woody Allen reference from “Take the Money and Run.” He's thrown in a Louisiana prison. The warden gives a tough guy speech and after he has his guards fire their guns, asks, “Does anyone have any questions?” To which Allen replies....

 

 

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Damn! It's rare for me not to get a movie reference!

[Thin2win]

Some updates and first impressions for you all.

 

This driver is silly low spin and the ball flight is much more penetrating then I am used to. I like to see the high towering flights with my driver, this hits low flying cruise missiles. And they have some real punch. After a couple of range sessions to get used to tee height, feel and ball flight with it I took it to the course, easily my three longest drives of the year with it. There are a couple trade offs to go with that, but it is addicting to hit. 

[Berg Ryman]

A video! That's right, a video! Of impact and the sound! Wooo!

 

[YouTube]

[/YouTube]

[STUDque]

A video! That's right, a video! Of impact and the sound! Wooo!

 

[YouTube]

[/YouTube]

How the heck did you get the phone so close to the ball without hitting it? I thought for sure we were going to have a new entry into a fails compilation.

[Berg Ryman]

How the heck did you get the phone so close to the ball without hitting it? I thought for sure we were going to have a new entry into a fails compilation.

 

Well Stud, I'll do anything for the shot. No, so my phone is a Kyocera Duraforce Pro, screen's practically impervious to drops and dings, military certified body, it's tough. First shot, the camera was lying in front of the tee facing up, but that lead to a bottomy strike, which held line well and didn't spin up crazy. Second shot it's inside the target line right next to the tee. Just tried to get the speaker and mic as close as possible.

[Shankster]

Thanks for that sound bite video Bergtaur. Actually sounds really muted compared to my G. Sounds like a good solid pop.

[jb0330]

There is just something about that blue that makes me smile.

 

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[Berg Ryman]

Thanks for that sound bite video Bergtaur. Actually sounds really muted compared to my G. Sounds like a good solid pop.

 

Thanks Shanks, thought you might appreciate. Did it while waiting for my girlfriend for a mini-golf/ice cream date.

[Berg Ryman]

What kind of results are you getting when you catch it low on the face?

 

 

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Well Wedgie, if you're still interested in knowing, I got some great results today distance wise from low strikes on the face, as that was pretty much all I had all day today. Obviously directional misses not great, but much better results that my Nike would have gotten me.

 

Also, since this may be the last time for a bit before I have more time, let's talk about my fitting process. 

 

First, gotta thank the boys at Big Oak Golf Shop. A Top 100 Golf Digest Fitter for letting me in and helping me out. Thanks to my guy Mike Avery for the fit and the discussion. Now, the one thing that was different about this fitting is that it was more a shaft fitting than anything else. Knowing the head and having only 4 shaft choices made this more about feel and dialing it in. 

 

First, Mike asked me about my golf, had me hit my Nike, and hooked me up with my choice ball, the Q-Star Tour for the testing. Obviously, it was important that we got this stuff under gaming conditions and the only difference was that the grip was a bit small in my hands. Because of that, and a frustrating inability to start the ball on the line, most shots were left as I was turning it over, but not like snap hooking. After the baseline, which is mentioned in my Stage 1, 241 total, 219 carry on best three, the shaft fitting began.

 

Luckily, we were able to hit very quickly on the right loft/lie combo. As no surprise to me it was my usual 10.5 and standard. We tried the upright lie at 10.5 but I went for a few snap hooks... no bueno. Throughout the start Mike laid out the shafts to me like this. He thought the CK Orange was a bit more whippy, Blue a bit in between, Kuro Kage a bit stiffer, and the CK White only if we really needed to get the spin down. Basically here were the total numbers to beat the Nike, rounded for ease of listing.

 

Launch: 11.5

Spin: 2500

Carry: 219

Total 241

 

TENSEI CK BLUE

 

We started with the stock stiff shaft for the ST180, the Tensei Blue. I had hit drivers with the Blue in it before and it never gave me the best numbers, but maybe in the head it had been chosen as the stock option, it would. Took a few swings with it, weight very similar to my Nike, ball flight very similar, in all, pretty samey if I did say so myself. Between Mike and I we were a touch disappointed with the results. Blue was out pretty quick

 

Launch: 10.8

Spin: 2900

Carry: 220.67

Total: 240.3

 

TENSEI CK White

 

I hit one shot, Too beefy for me and too stiff even at stiff. Hit it to try it at the end, after making the call. Won't regale you with numbers because there would be no point.

 

TENSEI CK Orange

 

Easily the shaft I was most excited to hit of the bunch and my own personal hopeful winner before we got started. The only knock against it in my mind going in was that it was the lighter version, weighing only 58 grams. Now, some would say that a lighter shaft may help me get some speed to pound it, but feel wise, coming from a 67 g to something 9 grams different made it an interesting head to head. Admittedly, as many of you know, this shaft is counterbalanced, but it was hard to feel that counterbalance in any meaningful way. I hit some ropes with this bad boy, moving it into the final round.

 

KURO KAGE SILVER TINI

 

When I got this shaft from Mike, he thought it would be the one that would perform the best for my swing, a bit more stable on the tip, a bit lower torque than the Orange, and a weight that felt familiar. As it felt more like home, it just felt right to swing and Mike mentioned he thought it was releasing through the hit better, something I was able to feel a touch after he mentioned it. It too produced some bombs and went through to the final round.

 

Now, after this bit of testing Mike was still trying to get my spin down and I asked him some q's about the ball. Like most, he said you should find a ball that you like from close before trying to find one to give you a specific feel off the tee. As I do get along with a wide variety of balls, I may change that variable in the future to see if I can crank a bit more distance out of the ST180, but I'll keep my Q-Star Tour rolling right now, plus the lower compression helps my side spin numbers a bit.

 

So, the final round was set CK Orange v. Kuro Kage, which would reign supreme? Here are the numbers!

 

CK Orange

 

Launch: 12.43

Spin: 2283

Carry: 230

Total: 253.3

 

Kuro Kage

 

Launch: 12

Spin: 2433

Carry: 231.3

Total: 252.6

 

So, why the Kuro Kage over the CK Orange? Well, it came down to feel and dispersion. With the Orange I hit bombs, but the feel in transition was like I didn't know where the head was during the swing and that put me off of it. Plus, the shots were more consistent and I felt repeatable with the Kuro Kage over the CK Orange. However, if they had a 60 gram CK Orange I would have been interested to see those results and I still may eventually buy one. 

 

Again, a big thanks to Big Oak and their staff, nicest bunch of guys and they have everything there. I even got to hit a PXG iron because I asked nice and they knew I had a little bit of game. If you need a fitting in Central NY, they should be the first call!

[Thin2win]

Hello all, thought I'd through up a G400 Max Vs. ST180 Sound compare for you all. 

 

The Baby Blue Bomber

 

 

The Batmobile:

 

 

-Cheers

[Shankster]

Glad I'm not the only one that calls the G series a bat mobile. Thanks for the comparisons.

 

Sometimes I call my G the battering ram because it looks so tactical. Or the Stealth Bomber...

[ole gray]

 

Stay tuned folks! I don't have any numbers yet, but the first range session appears to have me carrying this bad boy longer than my gamer

Also, please ask me as many questions as possible! I'd much rather give you all the info that you want, rather than just some ramblings of what I think might be important!

 

I enjoyed your intro and that blue head looks awesome to me!   Go Dawgs 

[ole gray]

 

Sadly now, we have come to the end of this Stage 1. I've got a few rounds under my belt with my new Blue friend and am looking forward to putting it through its paces. Admittedly, I'll be focusing more on how it performs in rounds and gaming situations than raw data and numbers. Part of that is because I think it matters more as to how it does perform in a gaming environment, but another part of that is my limited ability both with my time and with the season to get out and play. I'm hoping for like 10-15 rounds (already have three done) some range, and maybe an LM session along the way.

 

I hope you've enjoyed and if there are any questions about anything I'm looking forward to answering them!

 

 

 

Well done!  I love the pics of that blue headed Mizuno and great intro.